HB170 Summary

• Creates the "Historic Documents Act" requiring all Alabama public schools receiving public funds to display reproduction documents of the Magna Carta, Ten Commandments, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights in a prominent place during each school day.

• Documents must be appropriately mounted or framed and displayed in a manner complying with constitutional requirements, either displayed together or intermingled with other historical or educational items in a larger display.

• Requires the State Department of Education to promulgate rules and regulations to implement the display requirement.

• Establishes legislative findings that these documents form the basis for concepts of freedom, liberty, and government underlying the United States and Alabama, and states the display purpose is historical and educational rather than religious in nature.

• Becomes effective on the first day of the third month following passage and gubernatorial approval.